LAS VEGAS—If you’re looking for a nice payday at the beginning of February when Super Bowl XLVII is over, you might want to get a head start by sorting through the odds of the eight teams playing this weekend in the wild-card round. Recent history—and actual payouts in Las Vegas sports books—suggest a gold nugget might be found right now.

Five of the last seven Super Bowl winners had to go the long route of playing the extra game in the wild-card round to get to the Super Bowl, and all of them had pretty hefty odds at the beginning of the playoffs.

Momentum appears to the common element to advancing to the big game, and having the extra week off as a No. 1 or 2 seed doesn't seem provide the same edge it used to. The time off may actually hurt. Look at the Falcons from two years ago, when a hot Packers squad came in to Atlanta and knocked them out, and then the Giants doing the same thing to the Packers at Lambeau Field last season.

Some of the attractive prices on recent teams that had to get through the wild-card round en route to a Super Bowl win include both Giants’ runs (both 25-1); the 2010 Packers (15-1); and the 2005 Steelers (18-1).

Who might be this year’s wild-card Super Bowl winner?

Here’s a look at the contenders, along with their odds offered by the LVH SuperBook, which posts some of the fairest future prices in Las Vegas with a super-low theoretical hold. The common denominators with the winning teams in the past have been coming into the playoffs hot and having a couple of vulnerable higher-seeded teams in their conference.

Green Bay Packers (9/1): The disheartening thing about the Packers is their most recent play against quality competition. After waxing the Texans, 42-24, on Oct. 14, the only playoff team they faced was the Vikings, and they went 1-1 against them while allowing 409 yards combined to Adrian Peterson. The Giants, who may still be considered a quality team despite missing the playoffs, pounded them, 38-10. Aaron Rodgers has been firing on all cylinders, but their second-half run appears a bit diluted because of the lack of quality opponents.

Seattle Seahawks (9/1): This is the team that nobody wants to face right now, and the one many sports books in Nevada don’t want to see win. After losing at Detroit to fall to 4-4 on the season, the Seahawks were as high as 60-1 to win the Super Bowl. Since then, they have gone 7-1 and have outscored their opponents, 170-44, over their last four games combined. If looking for a team that is coming in hot like the Packers or Giants from the last two years, the Seahawks certainly qualify.

A big negative, however, is that Seattle has to play every postseason game on the road, where it's 3-5, unless the Vikings make it to the NFC Championship game. Plus, because they are so hot, combined with the risk sports books already have on them, the Seahawks’ odds are lower than they should be. Nine-to-one presents value only if they meet up with the Vikings in the championship game and face the Colts in the Super Bowl.

If you like the Seahawks, the wiser betting strategy is to bet them on the money line each game and roll the winnings over.

Houston Texans (20/1): We’ve seen the Texans do some impressive things this season, but what sticks with most of us is what they’ve done lately. They definitely don't qualify as a hot team, having lost three of their past four games. But they were in a similar same situation last season, losing three in a row to close out the season before beating the Bengals in the wild-card game with rookie T.J. Yates quarterbacking. They were an elite team all season long, with Arian Foster carrying the load, and they beat the Broncos in Denver in Week 3, which should give them some confidence if they have to travel to the Mile High City again.

Baltimore Ravens (25/1): This is not a team one can feel comfortable betting on, since it is about the coldest a playoff team can get. It’s not just that the Ravens have lost four of their last five, but if you go back the two weeks prior, they won three-point games against the Steelers and Chargers that they could have just as easily lost. Remember the Ray Rice fourth-and-29 play at San Diego?

One positive note that might justify a wager is Ray Lewis’ pending retirement. We saw the Steelers use Jerome Bettis’ last season as a motivational tool in one of their Super Bowl runs.

Washington Redskins (25/1): It’s a shame that two of the hottest teams in the league have to face each other so early. The Redskins come in on a seven-game winning streak and have basically been in a do-or-die playoff situation all seven weeks. This wild-card game is just an extension of what they’ve been doing. Along that road they beat a couple of pretty decent teams: the Cowboys twice, the Giants and the Ravens.

The major question with the Redskins right now is the mobility and health of Robert Griffin III, as well as having to face the Seahawks in this round. If they get by Seattle, there could be a big payday on the horizon. Winning at San Francisco or Atlanta would no longer seem like that tall of task.

Cincinnati Bengals (50/1): The Bengals have the "hot" factor going for them—winning seven of their last eight games—as well as a very balanced offensive attack and a monster pass rush, but there is some doubt about the quality of those recent seven wins. The win against the Giants was an eye-opener on Nov. 11 when the streak began, but beating up on three bad AFC West teams, the Eagles and the Steelers aren’t exactly monumental wins. And in their last win, the Ravens pulled their starters early.

Minnesota Vikings (80/1): The Vikings have won four straight against four quality teams—vs. Chicago, at St. Louis, at Houston and vs. the Packers last week. They’ve done that with solid defensive play and Adrian Peterson rushing past 2,000 yards. Imagining Christian Ponder playing in the Super Bowl, however, makes backing the Vikings to win the Super Bowl a difficult proposition. But they do qualify as a hot team, and Trent Dilfer has a Super Bowl ring, so anything is possible.

Indianapolis Colts (100/1): Although Baltimore is a tough place for opponents to win, the Colts might catch the Ravens still in their sleepwalk, which could set up a matchup for the ages with Peyton Manning going against his former team. Then, the Colts winning at Denver doesn’t seem like that big of a long shot. Manning has been sensational winning 11 games in a row, but the Broncos have been beating up on bad teams. Only the Bengals and Ravens made the playoffs among those on Denver’s run, and the Broncos caught them both at their worst moments of the season.

Winning at New England might be a different story for the Colts, who were throttled in Foxborough, 59-24. However, they do qualify as a dangerous team, as their success has become infectious and they've won nine of their last 11 games.

ON DECK: The four favorites to win the Super Bowl all start their playoff runs next week—the Broncos and Patriots are 5-2, followed by the 49ers at 9-2 and the Falcons at 6-1.